Tallgeese
Tallgeese is the name given to three designs of fictional mobile suit depicted in the Mobile Suit Gundam Wing anime and derivative works (referred to collectively as the After Colony era). In the anime, Walker, an OZ pilot that discovered the Tallgeese and procured it for Zechs Merquise's use, notes that it was the very first armed mobile suit, something of a common ancestor of both the Gundams and the mass-produced military mobile suits depicted. The Tallgeese II is built from the original design to be used as a command suit, and Tallgeese III is the Endless Waltz depiction of the mecha. All three incarnations of the mobile suit were designed by Hajime Katoki.
Role in plot
Tallgeese I
The original Tallgeese unit was designed in After Colony 170 (twenty-five years before the setting of the anime series) by the Romefeller Foundation, to provide an armed unit based on mobile suit technology. The resulting design was extremely powerful, but extremely expensive construction-wise and physically and mentally strenuous to the point of physical harm on its pilots, as demonstrated by the unfortunate death of one Otto, assistant and friend of Zechs Merquise, the pilot. The design was simplified, resulting in the Leo mobile suit.
Within the After Colony timeline, only two Tallgeese suits are depicted. The first was in storage, but was rebuilt in After Colony 195 by Zechs Merquise over the course of the early episodes. Tallgeese I was the only mobile suit capable of matching a Gundam in combat. At a point between episodes 18 and 22, Zechs' Tallgeese is modified for space travel, allowing Zechs (as Milliardo Peacecraft) to visit the colonies. This Tallgeese is self-detonated in episode 34, allowing Zechs to claim Wing Gundam Zero.
The second example revealed appeared in the Episode Zero manga. This Tallgeese was owned by the Long Clan (of which Chang Wufei was associated), and was destroyed while defending the Long Clan's orbital colony in After Colony 194.
Tallgeese II
Tallgeese II was a stop-gap unit assembled on the asteroid base MO-II, built from spare parts left over from the original Tallgeese project. Tallgeese II is identical in performance to its predecessor, Tallgeese I, with the only major differences being an Epyon-style crest and a new color scheme.
Tallgeese II was piloted by Treize Khushrenada from episode 46 until episode 48. It is destroyed in episode 48, when Treize allows Chang Wufei, piloting the Altron Gundam, to kill him in combat.
Tallgeese III
The Tallgeese III was built at the same time as the Tallgeese II, but did not appear until Endless Waltz. Tallgeese III was equipped with weapons derived from the Epyon and Wing Zero Gundams; the weapons were still under construction and prevented the suit from being functional when Treize went to space in episode 46. The suit was confiscated by the Earth Sphere Unified Nation's Preventer taskforce.
During the events of Endless Waltz, Zechs returns from his self-imposed exile (he was believed dead at the end of the anime) and uses Tallgeese III against the Mariemaia Army. Its armament included the devastating Mega Beam Cannon, the heat rod from the Epyon, which extends from its shield, and two beam sabers. It is unknown whether or not the Tallgeese III was destroyed at the end of Endless Waltz
References
ja:トールギス